Stratford-upon-Avon

No, despite the name, this is not a museum about insanity. 'MAD' stands for 'Mechanical Art and Design.'The Museum was launches in 2012. Its website describes it as a showcase for 'the world’s finest pieces of Kinetic Art and Automata belonging to pioneering artists from all four corners of the globe.' That sounds rather highbrow, but the museum is...

This restaurant is obviously ideal for pre-theatre dining if you are visiting the Royal Shakespeare Theatre or the Swan, as they are geared to feeding you in time for the performance. On our first visit, we didn't get much of a view from our table, despite the rooftop location, although we did admire the view on our way out to the lift to the...

Royal Leamington Spa

Food FestivalOver 150 exhibitors filled the Pump Room Gardens for the weekend festival, which is now in its seventh year. The Festival includes lots of free bites, a children’s cookery school, a master class area, a live kitchen and live music the festival attracts over 20,000 visitors.Also alongside the festival there is an annual “Taste Trail”...

Religious FestivalThis year (2014) Bollywood and bhangra dance, storytelling and Indian-inspired art was brought to the Sikh festival of Vaisakhi on Saturday (April 26).The Pump Room, the Sikh Community Centre, Birmingham-based south Asian arts organisation Sampad and Warwick District Council hosted a celebration to mark the religious festival -...

Warwick

Warwick Castle is over a thousand years old with the first fortifications being supposedly erected by Ethelfleda, daughter of king Alfred the Great in the year 914 as part of a network to protect the Kingdom of Mercia, the present castle is a Norman motte-and-bailey type built in the 11th century. The castle is well maintained with magnificent...

The Warwick Mop Fair and Runaway Mop has run for over 400 years and began when King Edward III granted a legal charter that it be held in the town centre. Every year the town has fairground attractions in the town centre and surrounding streets. The Mop was originally a hiring fair for local labourers and employers to meet in a social setting....

Rugby

The Pathway of Fame walking tour starts from the Rugby visitor centre and covers around 3km. It should take around two hours but more if you do stop to explore and take photos. It’s fun to do and also you get to see all the historic and interesting buildings in Rugby.The route it’s marked with 50 bronze rugby balls around the pavements of Rugby...

Lawrence Sheriff School it’s just on the outskirts of central Rugby but if you have got the time its worth visiting as it’s such a nice building. It was built in 1878 in an Elizabethan style and named after Lawrence Sheriff who was a grocer to Queen Elizabeth I. He had earned a great fortune during his life and as he was childless he had left his...

Kenilworth

If you are anywhere in the nearby area you really should visit Kenilworth castle. It is an excellent example of a classic English castle, developed and expanded from its original Norman 'motte and bailey' roots by such illustrious owners as John of Gaunt and Robert Dudley, Earl of Leicester. Dudley made it particularly special...somewhere for his...

The procession, headed by the Carnival Queen boasts floats from town schools, sports groups, charities, pubs and theatres and sets off from the castle on its traditional route through the streets. There is plenty of fun and games waiting at the end of the route in Abbey Fields. Charity and craft stalls vie for business while in the main ring, dance...

Henley in Arden

But the real attraction of Henley is simply wandering along the High Street, nipping down little alleyways. With 150 listed buildings (not all open to the public), there's plenty to see. And with so many historic pubs - The Nag's Head, The Blue Bell, The Three Tuns, The White Swan, The Black Swan - there's plenty of opportunities to soak up the...

But the real attraction of Henley is simply wandering along the High Street, nipping down little alleyways. With 150 listed buildings (not all open to the public), there's plenty to see. And with so many historic pubs - The Nag's Head, The Blue Bell, The Three Tuns, The White Swan, The Black Swan - there's plenty of opportunities to soak up the...

In the 'centre' of the town, where there's the closest Henley has to a village square, is the surviving 15th century market cross - one of the few left in Warwickshire. It's somewhat worn but it has survived the ravages of history, the top having being lost in the late 18th century.

Nuneaton

if you want somewhere that is peaceful with no noise head along the canal up 2 hartsill quarries there you will find loads of wildlife plants ect also its next to a few pubs my favourite being the ankor inn

Kingsbury Waterpark is a great place to go if you want to do pretty much anything. You can cycle, picnic, fly kites, walk dogs, play hide n' seek, hike, fish, play with water guns-anything!! There are loads of nature spots where you can watch birds if you are into that, and bigs expanses of fields if you want to picnic, or just have loads of fun...

Whatcote

A walk around the allotments of Whatcote,distance 2.5 miles,takes max 1.5 hrs.So called as part of it follows the path trodden by the villagers going to work on their allotments many years ago.Re-opened in 1994 thanks to Tom Smith and his footpath volunteers,on August 21st and a picnic was held after and hopefully now a yearly event.Start in...

As there is mention of a priest in the Domesday Book then there must have already been a church on the site when construction of the present church began around 1150.Additions were made following this until in 1767 major repairs were carried out and More work was carried out in 1840 but when in 1940 a German bomb caused extensive damage to the...

Built in 1168 as an ale house for workers building churches in the area.Inside the chimney there are iron rungs leading upto a hideaway to the right.In 1642 Cromwell and his officers used the house as temporary quarters before the battle of Edgehill and had the bread oven removed and a slit made in the wall to look out over Edgehill.They returned...

Ryton on Dunsmore

Just wanted to respond to a comment made about the village of Ryton on Dunsmore being 'uninspiring'. Having lived here for several years we actually have an awful lot of history, right back to the church and the Domesday books. Try the village out before assuming!

An unusual venue is the Ryton Organic Gardens Restaurant. We went for the eighth Annual Potato Weekend, there were a record 141 varieties on display. We came home with 9 varieties to plant in our garden to grow for ourselves.
We have now booked up for the 9th Annual Potato Weekend on Saturday 2nd Feb 2002. When we went to the Potato Day Meal on...

Visit Ryton Organic Gardens. Ten acres of landscaped grounds devoted to organic gardening. Situated 5 miles east of Coventry towards Rugby, just off the A45, along an un-numbered road leading to the village of Wolston. It is signed from the A45 with brown tourist information signs saying 'Ryton Gardens'. Run by the Henry Doubleday Research...

Long Marston

Once a year in July Long Marston Airfield plays host to Gods Kitchens' Global Gathering, a massive dance music event from 4pm on the Saturday evening until 7am on the Sunday morning. There are several giant marquees playing different genres of dance music with the countries best djs.As well as the music there is a fairground with extreme...

Every August Long Marston Airfield is taken over for a weekend by thousands of Bikers for the Bulldog Bash, a huge festival of music and motorbikes.There are literally thousands of motorbikes of all shapes and sizes on show, you can even race them down the drag strip on Run What You Brung.As well as the bikes there is music from top name bands and...

Long Marston Airfield is open every Sunday to a large outdoor market.
You can buy almost anything here from meat to trainers, car parts to cd`s, at knock down prices.
As little as possible, as it is a market you can try and haggle the prices down to get even more of a bargain.

Popular Destinations in Warwickshire

Top Warwickshire Writers

Warwickshire is a county in the West midlands, probably best known by most people for the bithplace of William Shakespeare at Stratford-upon-Avon. This is where most people head for and it must be one...

Our time in Warwickshire was relatively brief and this marked the northernmost extent of our travels on this particular trip. After spending the night in nearby Banbury, Oxfordshire, my wife wanted to...